To Be In Debt
by Janiqua
Summary: Upon meeting Vala Mal Doran for the first time, General Jack O'Neill admits to being in her debt. All because of Daniel.


**Author's Note: **So I've had this idea in my head now for over a year. Ever since the first few episodes of Season Nine. Has anyone else noticed just how adamant Jack O'Neill is about keeping Daniel out of the Pegasus Galaxy? This one's an extension to the ending of Origen. There are so many other things I should be doing right now, but I just had to get this written, so I think you should all definitely read and review. Thanks!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Stargate or any of the characters.

**ooooooo**

"_I don't think I would say this to anyone else, but for the first time, I'm scared."_

"_I'm hungry."_

"_Me too."_

**ooooooo**

The commissary was unusually quiet as General Jack O'Neill sat down in a chair across from Daniel. The archeologist looked understandably strained, and, to be perfectly honest, O'Neill didn't feel all that different. Ever since he accepted that damn promotion turning him into a Brigadier General, he'd been really starting to miss the good old fighting days when the only thing he led was SG-1. Now, he wouldn't even be stationed at the SGC, and nostalgia was threatening to run him down. To make matters worse, he'd been trying to come to grips with the fact that Daniel would be living in a completely different galaxy, which was without a doubt the one thing he'd been opposing ever since Atlantis's very discovery.

Not that it mattered or anything. Daniel wasn't going anywhere! And, what with their latest situation, O'Neill felt fairly confident he'd be asked to pick up a weapon again and dive right back into the field sooner or later. Unfortunately, the way things were shaping out, it would probably be a hell of a lot later…

_It could be worse,_ he casually reminded himself as he methodically handled his napkin, fork, and knife, staring at the food set before him in distaste. Hunger only went so far. _Mitchell is a very capable leader. And, no matter how much the Jaffa Nation might benefit from Teal'c's presence, he's not going to leave if the galaxy's in jeopardy. And Carter will be back, too, before long, if Mitchell gets his way. He'll probably get his way. Daniel will be fine._

"You know," he said at present, glancing up from his food in an almost desperate attempt to break the silence. Though the commissary wasn't exactly empty, it wasn't much of a surprise that most of its occupants weren't in the mood for conversation. After all, how could they be? O'Neill had a problem with Ascended Beings in general, and these… these Ori… were apparently by far the worst of the lot. "I never once thought I would miss the food on this base. And now I remember why."

That, at least, got a partial smile out of Daniel. And O'Neill was more than willing to give him points for the effort it no doubt took! "Really?" He looked up at the General with a knowing air. "Not even once?"

"Nope," O'Neill crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, ignoring his food completely while Daniel cut into something that resembled meat. "Not once."

"Not even when Urgo had you devouring every piece of dessert this place has to offer?"

O'Neill groaned, rolling his eyes. "Please, Daniel, don't remind me! Besides, we were all under an alien influence then." A thought occurred to him. There had been numerous times when he'd found the food at this base to be lacking a certain delicacy, but at least once he'd done something about it. Well… Sort of. "Speaking of food and alien influences, remember that bar fight we got into a few years back at O'Malley's?"

A large group of people began flooding into the commissary, and though conversation increasingly picked up, there remained a bit of solemnity about it. Among them, O'Neill caught sight of a gorgeous black haired woman – who had absolutely nothing on Carter – prancing lightly forward with a look of true mischief mixed neatly into the wide smile that crossed her face upon catching sight of Daniel. He, however, didn't notice her, for his back was turned and he had looked up at O'Neill reminiscently. "They make really good steak there. Why are we having our-?"

"I do believe we've been banned from the premises, Daniel," O'Neill interrupted, answering his question before he even had time to finish asking it. The black haired woman had quickly made her way over to them, and was even now grabbing a free chair that she no doubt meant to swing around towards their table. Even now, however, Daniel didn't perceive her, for the commissary was growing very crowded, and he had long since grown accustomed to tuning out those not in his company. O'Neill, on the other hand, eyed her subtly while wondering who she was. Meanwhile, he kept up his chat with the archeologist. "After all, that was quite some bar fight."

"You're telling me," Daniel looked slightly put out. "How many times have we saved this planet?" O'Neill shrugged, tapping the prongs of his fork against the surface of his tray. Daniel nodded. "Exactly. We've saved it too many times to count, and they've banned us from O'Malley's. Some thanks."

"Careful, Daniel," the black haired woman slammed her chair down at the archeologist's side, falling into it with surprising carelessness. Much to O'Neill's amusement, Daniel froze at the mere sight of her. She was leaning forward with her elbow on the table, propping her head up with her hand. Seemingly oblivious to the General's presence, she focused entirely on the archeologist with a charming smile. "One would think you'd have more important things to worry about than where you get your food, no?"

Momentary irritation crossed Daniel's face, followed swiftly by a groan and then resignation. O'Neill honestly couldn't remember a time when he'd ever seen a look quite like that cross the kid's face. "What did you do this time, Vala? Slip past your guard or seduce him?"

So this was the infamous Vala Mal Doran. O'Neill should have guessed. He felt a small smile cross his face as she sat there pouting. "Now, honestly, Daniel. Am I to understand that after everything we've been through together, you still don't trust me?"

"You tried stealing a piece of equipment from Dr. Lee," Daniel pointedly reminded her, and was rewarded by her grimace. "When you were caught, you tried talking your way out of it by claiming to be a kleptomaniac." He shook his head, clearly frustrated. "I'd love to know how you even found out about kleptomania."

O'Neill leaned forward in his chair, his amusement augmenting considerably. "Good one." Vala glanced at him as if just noticing his presence – which, O'Neill thought, was all too likely; she appeared to have been too completely transfixed on Daniel to notice much of anything else. Now, however, she regarded him and the Class A uniform he was fully decked in with considerable interest. Why would a strange man who was clearly of some importance be sitting with, as she liked to put it, _her _Daniel, outside the briefing room?

"Mmm," she nevertheless dropped her arm onto the table and leaned towards him with a friendly, if not lecherous, smile. "Impressed, are you? You should just hear some of the other, more pleasurable, things I can come up with at a moment's notice." She winked and O'Neill raised an eyebrow – he'd spent way too much time around Teal'c these past… what was it now? Eight years? Nine?

"Jack, please," Daniel looked from one to the other, sharing absolutely none of the General's humor. "Don't encourage her." O'Neill glanced at him quickly and held up his hands.

"I'm not!" He didn't sound half as innocent as he would have liked.

"Jack, is it?" Vala sat up straight, no doubt showing off her figure, and reached for the bowl of grapes on Daniel's tray. Holding it up, she started plopping the fruit into her mouth, one by one. "A little informal, aren't we? From what I've seen of your people in the short amount of time that I've been here, I've deduced that men in uniform can't stand to be treated with anything less than absolute, positive respect, no matter how little they might deserve it."

"Unbelievable," Daniel muttered to himself, shaking his head in disgust. The smile returned to O'Neill's face; he hadn't realized he'd be getting entertainment with this little meal.

"Daniel, I'm surprised with you!" Vala turned back towards the archeologist in mock disapproval. "Aren't you the one who's always well-mannered?"

"Well-mannered to a fault?" O'Neill put in, leaning forward and earning a quick smile from the woman before she turned back towards Daniel. The archeologist was staring at the two like one who just realized he'd been double teamed.

"Oh, I should have seen this one coming," he sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Jack, as I'm sure you're already well aware, this is Vala Mal Doran. Vala, this is General O'Neill." He made two feeble gestures; first to indicate one and then to indicate the other, before slumping back in his chair and waiting for some inevitable, unpredictable face-off.

Presently, however, Vala was staring at him with a flattered look on her face. "As he's already aware? My, Daniel, have you told all your friends enough about me that they can recognize me merely by my charming good looks and fiery spirit?" Daniel stared at her in disbelief.

"Actually," O'Neill calmly interrupted. "I read the mission reports. And I was briefed by Landry…" He trailed off as the couple both looked at him, and tapped his fork against the tray a few more times.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Vala pressed her hands palm down against the table. "You're a General. But so is General Landry, and he runs the SGC. Where do you fit in the whole grand scheme of things?" She looked genuinely interested – but then, any friend of Daniel's…

O'Neill shrugged. How was one supposed to answer a question like that? "Well, last I checked, I'm just your average, ordinary pain in the mikta."

"Ooh!" Vala's eyes seemed to sparkle in delight. "A pain in the mikta? Those are my favorite kinds!"

O'Neill stared at her with an awkward frown. "Really? Well that's… nice…" He looked back at Daniel questioningly, but the archeologist just shook his head and crossed his arms. Jack got himself into this mess. He could get himself out. Besides, it was a bit of a relief witnessing Vala's attention directed elsewhere. Generally, she was only distracted by Mitchell.

"I suppose if you know that particular word and can apply it properly to your own mikta, then you must have at least some experience with the Goa'uld," Vala plopped another grape into her mouth as she attempted to make light conversation.

"Yeah," O'Neill acknowledged, looking back at her uneasily. "Yeah, you could say that. We're all very, very chummy with each other." He hesitated, glancing from Vala to Daniel and then back again. "I'm sorry, but aren't you the one who hijacked the Prometheus a few months ago and left its entire crew, with the exception of Daniel here, for dead in the middle of space?" There was an accusatory tone in his voice which was impossible to miss. Vala glanced up at him sharply even as a smile tugged at the corners of Daniel's mouth. O'Neill might have been caught a little bit off guard, but he was back on his feet now and if anyone could match the con artist's wit, it would without a doubt be the General.

"So you heard about that too, huh?" she asked slowly, while thinking very quickly about how to talk her way out of this one. She understood all too well just how high up Generals ranked, and she wasn't even sure she had Landry's approval yet! Getting on this one's bad side was the last thing she needed right now.

"Oh, yes," O'Neill assured her with a cold nod. "There were good people on that ship. Friends of mine." He was, of course, thinking of General Hammond. "And you might have killed them."

Vala shook her head and pointed a finger at him. "But I didn't kill them! They were all perfectly fine! Better than fine, really."

"What about Daniel?" O'Neill persisted, gesturing towards the archeologist. "I'll have you know, he was really looking forward to seeing Atlantis for the first time!" If it were at all possible, Vala's face paled. Daniel, however, narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Where was Jack going with this?

"I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities for him to see Atlantis!" Vala declared, trying to sound at once confident and reassuring.

"An opportunity came and went with the Daedalus," O'Neill shot back, getting to his feet. Vala found herself slowly rising with him, unable to turn away. There was simply no mistaking the General's tone of voice, and she didn't want to be caught off guard sitting down when he ordered some soldier to come and arrest her. O'Neill was shaking his head. "I've been a General now for a very long time, Vala Mal Doran." Daniel's suspicions incremented considerably. That statement was more than just a little exaggerated. Vala, however, had no way of knowing that, and O'Neill was clearly taking advantage of it. "And in all that time, I have _never _come across another human being, from Earth or otherwise, as determined to keep Daniel out of the Pegasus Galaxy as me!"

Vala blinked, obviously confused. What was the General on about?

Meanwhile, Daniel huffed. He should definitely have seen this one coming.

O'Neill was openly smiling at the con artist. It had been a very long time since he'd last graced anyone with such a look of approval. "I guess this means I'm in your debt. Twice now you've proven yourself capable of keeping Daniel in the Milky Way when I've not been able to. If you ask me, we make a pretty good team."

The surprise was evident on Vala's face, but it was a good kind of surprise. Everyone she'd met since coming to Earth seemed slightly resentful that she'd been such a hindrance to Daniel. The thought that she now had an ally was a comforting one indeed.

"Jack…" Daniel himself, however, was of a very different mind. "I thought I told you not to encourage her." There was definitely a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"Now, Daniel," the General glanced at the archeologist patronizingly. "Don't be a poor sport. Vala's right. There will be _plenty_ of other opportunities for you to see Atlantis. But I'm just gonna betcha a month's pay that between the two of us, those opportunities will fly by as quickly and harmlessly as this last one did!"

"Jack…" Daniel was quickly reverting back to his old whining self. Whatever their problems were with the Ori, O'Neill quickly determined they mustn't be too, too terrible. They'd beaten the Goa'uld, after all. And the Replicators. Beating the Ori would likely not be any different whatsoever.

"You don't want him to go to Atlantis, do you?" Realization lit up Vala's face. She practically started bouncing up and down. "You really are in my debt then, aren't you?" Her excitement was palpable. Daniel mildly wondered if O'Neill realized he'd just created a monster.

The General, however, was regarding the con artist with a look of, if the archeologist didn't know any better, pure anticipation. "And I know exactly how I'm gonna repay you for it!"

"How?" Vala demanded eagerly, clapping her hands together in enthusiasm.

"Picture this," O'Neill suggested while dramatically holding his hand out in front of him. "A warm, clear day up on our planet's surface. Relaxation. Enjoyment. A bit of fresh air."

Daniel nodded knowingly. "Oh, here we go." Vala, however, didn't seem to have heard him. Instead, her animated, lively gaze was fixed solidly on O'Neill.

"I think you'll like it," he told her confidently. "We call it fishing."

**ooooooo**

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!


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